Palmer's Playground: 27. Friendship Broker

A day in the life of a Friendship Broker

I wanted to provide a quick update on the progress I have made in my quest to bring my old friends back together. The avid readers of my blog may recall that I explained in "Prattle #22" how I went about reuniting old friends last summer at Twins games. I use the term "Friendship Broker" to describe my role in this new venture because I'm maximizing my investment in Twins tickets by selling the value of fellowship and camaraderie to my old friends. The Twins tickets and my friends are like a portfolio of stocks and bonds that I need to buy, sell, mix, match and move around in order to be successful.

Can you make it to the game on the 17th...how about the 19th....28th?

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Quick Review:

The idea of trying to bring long lost friends back together was hatched when I joined a group of 8 people who were going to share Twins season tickets (10 games each - 4 seats to each game). I quickly discovered that the offer to spend a night at brand new Target Field with me and some mutual old friends brought people out of the woodwork.

In order to make my plan work for each game I needed to invite 3 people from my past who all knew each other. The key element of my plan was to find a group of 3 mutual friends who did not see each other on a regular basis. I was very fortunate to find people I could reunite at all 10 games last year.

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Seeing this was "2011 - The Year of Change" (Prattle #26) I needed to come up with a different plan for inviting old friends to join me at Twins games. Normally I would try and identify different groups of guys I could invite to be my guests at the Twins games. However, this year all of my normal ways of doing things have been thrown out the window...this year I was going to find groups of women from my past who I could invite to the games (definitely moving outside my comfort zone).

After digging through all of my files and photo albums I was able to come up with several different groups of women who fit my criteria (3 mutual friends from my past who all know each other). The first group I identified were women I worked with during my early years at Norstan Communications. (1987-1989).

Lots of women to consider.....

Hmmm....I may need to hold a lottery

Before I became a full time sales rep at Norstan (now called Black Box) I held a position that was called a Marketing Support Representative (MSR). This position could best be described as a sales rep in training who also provided assistance to the full time sales reps. When I was hired as an MSR in 1987 I joined a group of 3 women who were already working in the MSR department. I soon became very good friends with these women and we socialized outside of the work place. We were all single back then so we had plenty of time for fun and games once the work day ended.

These women eventually left Norstan, found new jobs, got married and had a family. I of course being the good Norwegian stayed at Norstan (Black Box), stayed in sales, never got married and never had a family. Seeing it had been 20+ years since I had worked with these women I decided they would be a great group to reunite at a Twins game this year.

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Quick sidebar....a story within a story...here is how became an MSR

How to become an MSR in 20 easy steps
1. Left my teaching and coaching job in Twin Valley, MN after 5 years (that's a separate story)
2. Moved to the big city to cast my lot...had no idea what to do
3. Needed some money so I worked in the warehouse for a company called Norstan
4. While working in the warehouse I was asked to join the Norstan company softball team
5. The softball team was managed by the VP of sales at Norstan
6. Played shortstop and we had a great year...won the Class C state softball tournament
7. Used my skills at being the life of the party before, during and after these softball games
8. Learned these special skills while playing for the Blue Goose softball team* in 1970's
9. Blue Goose players taught me all of these unique skills - best teachers in the business
10. No intention of continuing to work in the warehouse at Norstan
11. Always looking for a new job
12. VP of Sales didn't want to lose his shortstop / all star party guy
13. VP of Sales had recently created a new position called a Marketing Support Rep (MSR)
14. VP of Sales hired me to fill one of these MSR positions in his sales group...
15. VP of sales didn't need another MSR...he just added me to the group
16. After 1 year I was promoted to a full time sales rep
17. Went on to have a very successful 25 year career in sales
18. My sales success positioned me to create a brand new position for myself within the company
19. New position - trainer, mentor, coach, counselor, psychologist, "fixer" for all sales reps.
20. All of those days and nights spent playing softball with the Blue Goose team launched my career as sales rep....who'd a thunk?

*The Blue Goose was a small bar in my home town of Zumbrota, MN who sponsored "The" softball team in the local area. I played on this team for several summers in the 1970's and the Blue Goose bar became the social epicenter for fun and hyjinx.

...from the Blue Goose to the Board Room......

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Now back to the main story....I had only really stayed in contact with 1 of these 3 women so I had no idea how my invitation would be received by the other 2. I hadn't seen 1 of these women for over 20 years and the other woman I had only run into a couple of times over the years. Once I was able to track down their email addresses I sent out my invitation letter and crossed my fingers. Much to my surprise I received an immediate response from all 3 women and they were excited to attend the game....and all 3 of them could go to the game I offered.....believe me....that never happens....usually there is all kinds of juggling that needs to take place before I have 3 people lined up to go....or as I say there needs to be some serious "brokering" done in order to get a designated threesome committed.
Let me introduce my guests.......

Ann Pearson

Val Romansky

Mary Duffy

This group matched my criteria perfectly...
-Mary had not seen Val or me for over 20 years
-Val and I had only seen each other a few times in the last 20 years
-Ann had seen Mary and Val only a few times
-Ann and I see each other a couple times a year

In order to explain my mission and get commitments to attend the game I have put together a standard invitation that I send out to prospective guests.....a portion of this invitation is provided below......this is what you call going for the "hard close" in the world of sales.....

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In my very short career as a Friendship Broker I have found that there are 2 types of people out there. As you will see below I have provided how these 2 types of people respond to my invitation..

The big question is...... which type of person are you?????......

Person #1????? or Person #2?????

Person #1
1. I hate baseball...forget it....no way!!
2. I'm not giving up a Friday night to attend a baseball game
3. I have moved on with my life and have no interest in seeing these people
4. I'm way too busy
5. I'm too old and tired to be out on a Friday night
6. I hate crowds
7. I don't socialize anymore
8. I'd rather stay home and watch TV
9. My husband and kids would never understand
10. We will never find a night where all of us could attend so just forget it

Is this game ever going to end?

This is why I hate baseball

Person #2
1. I'm not a big baseball fan but I would love to go
2. It would be so much fun to get together as a group again
3. What a great excuse to get together
4. Life is too short....I have to take advantage of these type of opportunities
5. The tickets are on Palmer?....no cost?....you mean "free"?... are you kidding?...of course I'll go
6. I really need to make an effort to see these people again
7. I'm never too busy to see old friends....just tell me the date and time....I will be there
8. I'll change my plans....I have to be there...wouldn't miss this for anything
9. I never get a chance to do things like this....count me in
10. As the American Express commercial says....a night at the ball park with my old friends?....PRICELESS!

There's Joe Mauer!!

I love this game!!

Oh yes, one more thing before you send me your answer....I have pretty good seats....lower level...25 rows up.....straight up from 3rd base....great view of the Minneapolis skyline.

Think about it!!!